News Releases

Secretary Condos Updates Election Canvass Information

In accordance with 17 V.S.A. 2592, Secretary of State Jim Condos states that the Canvass committee met as required on Tuesday November 15 at 10am. The attendees were: Secretary Condos as Chair, Conor Casey, designee for the Democratic Party, Jeff Bartley, designee for the Republican Party, and Josh Wronski, designee for the Progressive Party. The information to be conveyed to the legislature is the result of the general election for the six statewide officers. The Federal positions are also reported to appropriate points of contact. The relevant parts of the statute are:

17 V.S.A. 2592. Canvassing committees; canvass of votes in general or special elections

(a) For all state and national offices and statewide public questions, the secretary of state and the chair of the state committee of each major political party (or designee) shall constitute a canvassing committee to receive and tally returns and issue certificates.

(k) In the case of the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state, attorney general, and auditor of accounts, the canvassing committee shall prepare a certificate of election but shall not sign it. The prepared certificate shall be presented to the official canvassing committee appointed by the general assembly, pursuant to Chapter II, 47 of the Vermont constitution, for their use if they desire. (my emphasis).

The canvass committee signed off on the vote results which included the "spoiled votes" (or overvotes) and "blank votes" (or undervotes). It is important to understand that these are important votes to track, as they must be included in the total number of votes cast when that numbered is compared to the number of voters checked off the checklist.

Amid questions from Senator Zuckerman, Secretary Condos has discussed this with Secretary of the Senate John Bloomer and we agree that the Legislative Joint Canvass Committee has not in the past used either "spoiled" or "blank" votes to "declare the person who has the major part of the votes..." for Governor, Lt Governor, and Treasurer - as required by the Vermont Constitution 47.

Therefore, to be clear, the Legislative Joint Canvass Committee can be assured that, when the spoiled and blank votes are excluded from the total votes cast, Senator Zuckerman has received 52.1 percent.

Further, using the same calculation, the other statewide officers received the following percentages:

Governor 52.9 percent

Treasurer 82.3 percent

Secretary of State 89.4 percent

Auditor of Accounts 55.4 percent

Attorney General 66.6 percent

"My priority is to be accountable and transparent and the Elections office goal is to provide ALL of the information on the election results for the Joint Legislative Canvass Committee to make an informed certification," stated Secretary Condos.

Media Contact: Will Senning, 802-828-0175

Source: Secretary of State
Last Updated at: November 17, 2016 15:25:16